falloutfanficfandomcom-20200214-history
Naval Battle off Itoigawa
The Naval Battle of Itoigawa, fought off the town of Itoigawa, Japan on September 19th, 2256, was the last naval action on the eastern front of north shore of Japan during the Honshu War, in which the Shogunate fleet attempted to attack a force of JSDF vessels engaged in the bombardment of the port of Itoigawa. This battle resulted in the destruction of almost all of the Shogunate Toyama fleet, and provides an excellent example of the force multiplier that an operational pre-war warship provides in postwar naval combat. Background During the early stages of the Battle of Joetsu all Shogunate warships, consisting entirely of improvised warships constructed from pre-war civilian ships were either sunk or crippled in harbor by overwhelming JSDF naval and air power. After the destruction of the fleet at Joetsu, the Shogunate did not deploy their Toyama fleet, or the smaller forces at Itoigawa during the battle, realizing that they were woefully outgunned by the multiple pre-war warships the JSDF had off shore. Meanwhile, on August 19th, starting even as JSDF army troops still fought in the ground advance on Myoko, the first JSDF air forces, consisting of six F80s launched air strikes against shore batteries and the port at Itoigawa, to the west of Joetsu and now the easternmost port in Shogunate hands on Japan's north shore. Subsequent air strikes would be launched against both ports of Itoigawa and the larger port of Toyama to the west of Itoigawa. These attacks, however, were limited in scope by the small numbers of surviving aircraft in the JSDF arsenal, many of which light piston-engine aircraft which were ill-suited for raids deep behind Shogunate line. While the Shogunate air force had been effectively eliminated in the north of Japan by mid-August, there remained numerous anti-aircraft guns which could easily engage slow moving aircraft. With the a few jets available for air raids also being tasked with support troops on the ground near Joetsu, it was not possible to do heavy damage to Itoigawa. To achieve the objective of effectively knocking out the port of Itoigawa, it was decided to employ naval forces to bombard the city in addition air forces. On August 28th, the first naval attack was launched, the JSDF force during the raid would be centered around the two Daisetsuzan-class Fire Support Ships, converted container ships equipped with two 203mm howitzers in a twin turret on the bow, and six gunshield-mounted 155mm howitzers, three on each side, as well as a 100-shot battery of 300mm Type-17 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, a postwar-designed heavy MLRS. Three auxiliary cruisers, converted container ships armed with 105mm and 155mm guns would join the bombardment force. The escort force was to consist of the pre-war frigate JS Tachikaze, the pre-war missile boat JS Inazuma, as well as twelve armed trawlers and multiple "ultra-light" (small, fast boats armed with machine guns and rocket launchers) vessels. The first bombardment attack was an outstanding success, with over 60 300mm rockets and at least 200 artillery shells landing within the Himekawa Port at Itoigawa, sinking two large pre-war container ships, seventeen light vessels, and destroying two dockyard cranes. Several shore gun emplacements were also knocked out by the fleet and supporting aircraft. In the next month, eight more bombardment runs would be launched against Itoigawa, sinking twelve more vessels, two more cranes, the only operational drydock, a large cache of microfusion cores, and a pre-war petrochemical plant modified to produce synthetic fuels. While the port of Itoigawa was quickly being rendered useless, the daimyo of Toyama sought to destroy the JSDF bombardment forces in order to discourage further naval attacks on Toyama. While he lacked any pre-war warships, the daimyo gambled that, with JSDF would not waste a rare surviving anti-ship missile on an improvised craft, and that, with sufficient armor made from the large amounts of pre-war scrap metal in the port of Toyama could be used to sufficiently armor a cargo ship against the relatively small caliber guns (75mm and 120mm) mounted on pre-war warships. This, along with a massed attack by small boats would, it was hoped, prove sufficient to disable or drive off the two pre-war escorting vessels, leaving the bombardment force vulnerable. On September 19th, two cargo ships armored with scrap metal armor ranging between 120mm and up to 300mm, the Kotetsu and Tekkosen, set sail, along with two lighter auxiliary cruiser- converted cargo ships with lighter armor, set sail, escorted by a large force of light vessels- armed speedboats and fishing boats. Small Unit Engagement The first engagement attack took places at 1012 hours, when 46 Shogunate light craft and 6 armed fishing trawlers advanced on the JSDF ships off Itoigawa from two directions, 25 light craft and two trawlers attacked from the port of Suzu on the Noto peninsula. The first craft were detected on the surviving pre-war radars on the JSDF frigate JS Tachikaze and the missile boat JS Inazuma at a location about 35 miles east of Suzu and a similar distance north of Itoigawa. The two pre-war warships move to engage the attacking force, firing their main guns, the 120mm gun on the Tachikaze an the 75mm on the Inazuma at a distance of eight kilometers. The four shells failed to score any hits, but the third 120mm shell (and fifth fired by the entire taskforce) fired by the Tachikaze landed near two light craft, destroying both of them. Subsequent shots destroyed seven armed speedboats, forcing the rest to disperse. At six kilometers, one of the Shogunate armed trawlers was struck directly by a 120mm shell and destroyed, soon followed the second trawler, which was hit by the 75mm gun of the Inazuma. By the time the Shogunate boats had reached a range of four kilometers, the Tachikaze and Inazuma had turned broadsides, allowing their point defense weapons to fire on the incoming craft. These weapons, including a single Gatling laser and two 20mm CIWS guns on the Tachikaze and a single 20mm on the Inazuma destroyed at least 12 of the incoming boats, forcing the rest to turn to the north and retreat, with the two JSDF pre-war warships attempting to give chase. The engagement ended at 1022 hours when the JSDF pre-war vessels picked up radio reports of an attack on the bombardment force. In response, the two pre-war ships steamed towards the bombardment force at 30 knots, the top speed of the slower of the two ships, the frigate Tachikaze. At 1022 hours, the second Shogunate force of four trawlers and 21 light boats advanced out of Toyama, immediately followed by the large improvised warships Kotetsu and Tekkosen and two other armed merchant ship. With the first attack on the pre-war warships serving as a distraction intended to draw them away from the bombardment force, the second force were intended to destroy as many of the bombardment force as possible. Detecting the incoming small boat attack, the commander of the JSDF bombardment force ordered his ships to turn 90 degrees, from their line abroad formation facing towards the shore to a similar position perpendicular to it, in order to effectively deploy as much of their firepower as possible against the incoming Shogunate boats. Meanwhile, the JSDF 30 light patrol boats were ordered to break off and intercept the attacking force, with the 14 armed trawlers following behind, forming a second line of defense. The first shots were fired by the JSDF bombardment ships at the incoming light craft, a salvo of four 203mm guns, eight 155mm guns, and six 105mm guns, divided between the five bombardment ships at a distance of five kilometers. Given the inaccuracy of what were essentially pre-war land-based howitzers when mounted on a moving platform, the spread of shot covered an area of at least 500 meters, though with two more salvos, the barrage destroyed four Shogunate light craft and one armed trawler. The fire from the 14 JSDF armed trawlers, managed to destroy another Shogunate armed trawler and three more light craft, before the two formations of light craft closed in. In the close-in battle between the JSDF and Shogunate light craft, the JSDF proved superior, in large part thanks to the heavier armament on their boats, along with their better-trained crews. In the engagement, the JSDF lost three light boats sunk, and three armed trawlers sustained light to moderate damage to heavy machine gun and autocannon fire. By 1028, all but four of the Shogunate boats were sunk, including all of the armed trawlers. Sinking of the Main Shogunate Fleet In spite of the destruction of the light screening force, the four Shogunate armed merchant ships continued, led by the armored Kotetsu and Tokkosen. Fire from the JSDF light craft caused some damage to the armored ships, but did little to slow their advance. Nonetheless, the faster JDSF light boats managed to stay out of range of the heavier Shogunate ships. At 1032, about ten minutes after reaching the distress signal, the JSDF pre-war warships reached a range of about 15 kilometers and fired their guns at the Shogunate heavy warships. While the rounds initially had limited effect against the heavy, but improvised armor, a 75mm shell from the Inazuma did disable the forward 155mm howitzers on the Kotetsu before they could get in range of the JSDF bombardment fleet. The rapid fire of the pre-war naval guns of the Inazuma and Tachikaze, however, allowed them to pelt the four Shogunate ships with shells from beyond the range of the improvised armament of the Shogunate ships, eventually sinking the two less heavily armored Shogunate auxiliary cruisers at the rear of the formation, and the repeated impacts began to disable the weapons on the Kotetsu and Tekkosen, both of which were armed mostly with formerly land-based artillery in open gunshield or barbette mounts, and well as gradually blow off the crude armor. The fire from the JSDF pre-war ships also damaged the bridges on the two ships, injuring an killing the bridge crew and preventing them from turning broadsides to the bombardment force. By 1035 hours, the Kotetsu and Tekkosen were burning wrecks. At this point, the vessels had drifted under partial power into a range of about four kilometers of the bombardment force. The commander of the bombardment force ordered the ships to add their firepower to the battle. Six salvos were fired from the guns of the bombardment force. On the third salvo, two 203mm shells believed to be from the JS Yotei struck the Kotetsu, one destroying what remained of the bridge and a second blowing a massive hole in the bow. The vessel began to take on a list to port and sunk within eight minutes, finished off by further shell hits. The Kotetsu sunk at 1043, and the Tekkosen went down four minutes later, a 155mm or 203mm shell having punched through the deck and set off the bank of microfusion reactors in a large explosion that also set off what remaining ammunition was on board the ship. Category:Battles Category:Events